This is how Elon Musk is planning to colonize Mars

By
Jibu EliasMarch 27, 2018, 11:58 a.m.

Musk published his latest plan in the peer-reviews journal New Space

Elon Musk may have a unique sense of humor, but when it comes to colonizing Mars, he seldom jokes. And now his goals of colonizing the red planet has taken a new leap as his latest plan is now officially part of the academic publication.

Musk’s latest plan is published in the peer-reviews journal New Space and offers insights into the development of “BFR”, his mission to Mars, and new rocket fuelling system in the neighboring planet as well.

One of the key highlights of the paper is, according to Musk, “we have figured out how to pay for it. This is very important.”

Musk notes that “if we can build a system that cannibalizes our own products, makes our own products redundant, then all of the resources, which are quite enormous, that are used for Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon can be applied to one system.”

"We want to have one system—one booster and one ship—that replaces Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon. If we can do that, then all the resources that are used for Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon can be applied to this system. That's really fundamental,” he explains

The BFR

The key component to Musk's Mars ambitions is the BFR rockets. The presentation points out that with BFR in fully reusable configuration, without any orbital refueling, it can carry a payload capability of 150 tons to low Earth orbit. That is five times more than what Falcon Heavy can carry- which is only partially reusable.

Image credit: SpaceX

Refueling on Mars

To travel to Mars with such a heavy payload - which may include up to 100 people, refilling midway is crucial. Elon Musk writes that he will send the spaceship up to orbit, refill it until it has full tanks, and then it travels to Mars and lands.

In case of refueling from Mars, he plans to create a local propellant production. Since Mars has a CO2 atmosphere and plenty of water ice, one can make CH4 and O2 using the Sabatier Process, he points out.

Musk also answers one of the biggest criticisms aimed at him from time to time -“Why are you using combustion in rockets and you have electric cars?

According to SpaceX founder, there is no way to make an electric rocket, but in the long term we can use solar power to extract CO2 from the atmosphere, combine it with water and produce fuel and oxygen for the rocket.

So, when is all of this going to happen

From the paper, it seems Musk is quite optimistic about the timeline.

"We are targeting our first cargo missions in 2022—that's not a typo, although it is aspirational", he writes.

"We've already started building the system—the tooling for the main tanks has been ordered, the facility is being built and we will start construction of the first ship around the second quarter of next year," he added.

SpaceX will start building the BFR ships, which will carry people and cargo to Mars, in the coming six to nine months and it is expected to be ready for a launch in about five years. The first goal here is to try to make the 2022 Mars rendezvous.

Since the Earth-Mars synchronization happens roughly every two years, there is only one opportunity to fly to Mars in every two years. Hence Musk plans to fly four ships—two cargo and two crew in 2024. The goal of the first mission will be to find the best source of water, and the second mission will be tasked with building the propellant plant.

Image credit: SpaceX

Musk also writes that Mars base will start with one ship, then multiple ships. Later he will start building out the city and making the city bigger, and even bigger. "Over time terraforming Mars and making it really a nice place to be," he stated.